1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to devices for cracking the shells of shelled food products. More particularly, the present invention relates to shelled food product cracking devices that are capable of entirely or substantially retaining cracked shell portions and other associated debris from the food product therein.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Eating shelled food, and crustaceans such as lobster and crab, in particular, often makes for a messy experience. During the shell cracking process, flying portions of shell and other solid and liquid food contents can, and often do, project from the shell and onto the eater and nearby objects and, worse, other diners. This messy practice is hardly tolerable at an outdoor lobster fest, and it can completely ruin a more formal indoor dining experience.
Unfortunately, existing shell cracking tools are not optimally arranged to prevent shell and other food material from being sent airborne during the cracking process. These existing devices include devices specifically designed to crack shells, such as the large variety of bi-lever nutcrackers or other nutcrackers that are commercially available, for example, man-made tools that are not specifically meant for cracking shells, such as a clawhead hammer or pipe wrench, for example, and even more primitive tools, such as a large rock or block of wood, for example. In using these existing devices, the user either squeezes the levers of the nutcracker together while a shelled food product is positioned therebetween or simply smashes the shelled food product (when the devices not specifically meant for cracking shells or other primitive tools are selected) while it is on a hard surface, and in doing either one of these, there is nothing to prevent shell portions or other debris from being expelled away from the nutcracker or other cracking tool.
What is needed therefore is a shell cracking device that substantially retains cracked shell portions and other debris during the cracking process to prevent such materials from being sent airborne. The present invention is a shell cracking device that is optimally arranged to achieve this goal.